"Government push those films which are best suited for their political agendas ".
Filmmaker-writer Aditya Om, whose social drama film ‘Maassab’ recently released in theatres, has made a bold statement saying that the government pushes those films which are best suited for their own political agendas. He also added saying that it is a very trying and tough time for independent filmmakers and the audience.
Aditya Om was interacting with News Helpline in Mumbai.
It is often observed that Bollywood hasn’t made enough films that revolve around issues of children except for a few films like ‘Taare Zameen Par’ or ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’ and government also don’t support independent filmmakers who are trying to make socially relevant films, expressing his views on it, Aditya said, “Today, we are living in a corporate structure and in that structure; people have their own goals and missions. I feel commercial Bollywood cinema has submerged itself in number games and box office collection and mostly whatever good work is happening in India has been done by independent filmmakers like us. Nowadays, if you see OTT platforms, you will not see varied work there as well. I am not putting down commercial cinema but independent filmmakers are telling different stories that are relevant to society, so corporate production houses and Bollywood stars have different agendas. They have the power and resources but I don’t understand why they don’t make films with such issues.”
He added, “As far as government support is concerned, they also have their political agendas and they push those films which are best suited for their political agendas. I feel every political party or people of certain ideology manipulate things as per their own leanings and it’s their right as well so, we don’t have any problem with it but having said that, I feel it is a very trying and tough time for independent filmmakers and also for the audience.”
The title of the film 'Maassab' means teacher in colloquial north central rural India. 'Maassab' deals with the untouched topic of education in rural primary schools in India. It revolves around an IAS officer who has quit his job to teach children of rural India and how he faces huge obstacles from a society entrenched in dogma, superstition, feudalism, and corruption.
‘Maassab’ released in theatres on 29th January and it has got mostly positive reviews from the critics, talking about how he decided to make a film on the education system of rural India, Aditya said, “I am also a social activist apart from being a filmmaker. I have done a lot of work to bring reform in the education sector for many years, so I always wanted to make a film based on the educational sector of our country. This film’s lead actor Shiva Suryavanshi came to me with the story idea of the film and when I heard it, I really liked it. After that, we started searching for a producer for the film and it took us one year to write the script of the film, and then we shot it.”
Talking about the story and message of ‘Maassab’, Aditya said, “As a filmmaker, I have tried to tell the message of the film in an entertaining manner. This film talks about what kind of challenges we are going through in the field of primary education and what we should do to overcome those challenges, especially in rural areas. It is a story of an IAS officer who feels that he should do something in the field of education, so he quits his lucrative job and starts teaching children in the village but we have tried to give certain treatment to every scene so that the audience can watch the film with a different perspective. It’s not that all the scenes are novel or fresh but as a writer and director, I have tried to bring my own perspective in the film.”
‘Maassab’ is produced by Rohini LB Singh. The film premiered at the 2018 Cosmic Film Festival in Orlando, Florida (United States).
It stars Shiva Suryavanshi, Sheetal Singh, Sohit Soni, Kritika Singh, Chandrabhushan Singh, and Manveer Choudhary in key roles.
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